Phase One: Zick beside Himself

Chapter Two: Home Alone

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"So what do you usually do right now?" Teddy asked, hopping back into the blue leather recliner to the right of the television. Terrence and Zob left for the bar a half hour earlier.

"Nothing much," Zick said, "Some snacking, watch a little TV, maybe go online when the internet isn't down…"

"What about when Elena's over?"

"She's never… been over…"

Teddy looked surprised. "Never ever literally?"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Why the heck not?"

Zick attempted to summarize her reasons. "She likes me and Dad, but… her parents don't want him near her after 'you-know-what' was exposed, and… some other stuff. It's pretty complicated."

Of course. Everything was complicated for the last four years.

"…Alright then… Wanna see what's on TV right now?"

"Fine with me."

Zick sat and adjusted his position on the beaten up, brown leather couch. After Teddy turned on the television, he asked: "Hey Teddy, why don't you sit here?", simultaneously pointing to the empty seat next to him.

Teddy shifted further back to his seat, even reaching for the lever on the chair's side to rise the footrest. "Nope; I'm already comfortable where I'm at!" He then kicked his sneakers off and emitted a sigh of relief to further illustrate his point.

Zick frowned, then stared at the screen. "Teddy, why the hell are you watching Queer as Folk?"

Teddy rose, snatched the remote from the couch arm closest to him, and switched it to South Park. "This okay?"

"Close enough, I guess," he said as he repositioned himself to lie on the couch like it was a mattress.

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Zob and Terrence returned six minutes before the struck of midnight. The younger two men were already asleep from boredom an hour earlier, but Zick woke up as soon as the door shut closed courtesy of two boisterous lovers.

"Oh no," Zick said, getting up.

"With is it, Zick?" Teddy said half-unintelligibly. He covered his eyes with a pillow as Zick turned on the light.

"Augh! What are you doing?"

"No offense, but when they're piss-poor drunk, our dads are pretty loud when they're fucking. And when they're not piss-poor drunk, my dad tends to cry out my mom's name in his sleep- loudly," Zick said as he turned on the radio to full blast, then turned off the light. "If you don't like the noise, keep the pillow over your head."

Teddy grumbled something before he snored again a few minutes later.